U.S. Federal, State Governments Facing Grecian Tragedy in a Few Years

U.S. Federal, State Governments Facing Grecian Tragedy in a Few Years

November 4, 2010

The Associated Press - Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., warns that the United States could end up in dire financial straits like Greece's in a few years if it doesn’t cut its deficit and debt — and quickly.

The federal government and state governments are facing massive debts moving forward. States alone are looking at unfunded pension shortfalls for police, emergency, and government workers totaling between $3 trillion and $5 trillion during the next two decades, the Economist magazine reported recently.

"This nation is on a course where if we don’t do something about it, get federal situation, the fiscal policy [under control], we’re Greece. We’re a banana republic," Gregg told CNBC.

"Our status as a nation is threatened by what we’ve got coming at us in the area of deficit and debt. And it’s only a few more years, at the most, that we have to work with here before the market says, ‘Sorry, your currency is something we cannot continue to defend.’"

Last month, the U.S. government posted its second straight annual budget deficit in excess of $1 trillion as lingering unemployment constrained tax revenue. The shortfall totaled $1.294 trillion in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, second only to the $1.416 trillion deficit in 2009, the Treasury Department said.

A jobless rate projected to exceed 9 percent through 2011 points to the difficulty of narrowing the budget gap even as the global economic recovery boosts company profits and produces more corporate tax receipts. Growth in government spending may slow because of declining costs associated with the financial crisis that spawned such rescue plans as the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

But as Republicans prepare to assert new authority in Congress, America’s overseas trading partners worry that Washington’s political upheaval may pose fresh challenges to the global economy, The New York Times reported.

Despite pledges to curb government spending and the huge United States budget deficit, Republicans are expected to address anxiety over unemployment and flagging growth by pushing for an extension of the income tax cuts passed during the presidency of George W. Bush — a move that would add to the deficit and, by extension, further weaken the dollar.

“The rest of the world, including Asia, is looking at the United States and seeing no real effective policy measures in bringing the economy back on track,” said Bart van Ark, the chief economist at the Conference Board, which measures American economic indicators.

“That is making the U.S. lose its legitimacy in the global economic community as a leader in terms of providing solutions.”

Meanwhile, Greece plans to stick to its agreement with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in May in return for a 110 billion-euro ($153 billion) emergency loan package, government spokesman George Petalotis told Bloomberg.

The EU and IMF approved the aid package in exchange for Greece agreeing to cut public-sector wages and pensions and raise taxes on fuel, alcohol, and cigarettes.

When stumping on the campaign trail, the nation's new slate of governors could afford to make sweeping but vague promises about how they'd solve their states' massive looming budget deficits.

Now as winners, they're faced with the hard reality of having to make unpopular decisions about who will feel the pain of layoffs, service cuts or even tax increases, The Associated Press reports.

Some of the newly elected leaders got started right away, naming their budget directors and meeting with legislative leaders. But others immediately began tempering voters' expectations by acknowledging that tough decisions and hard work lie ahead.

"January is bearing down on us," Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican elected to a state record third term, said during his victory party. "We need to be ready to make some tough decisions."

States face what could be their worst budget years ever, with combined deficits potentially topping $140 billion, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington think tank.

This comes after many states already have raised taxes and slashed spending, leaving brand-new governors with fewer examples of waste, fraud, and abuse to cut.

"They're going to find the budget has already been pretty well picked over," said Nicholas Johnson, head of the center's State Fiscal Project.

Some of the newly-elected governors have made their budget balancing jobs more difficult by promising tax cuts or declaring certain parts of their state's current budget safe ...

Ray Scheppach, executive director of the National Governors Association, said "everything easy, medium and even difficult" has been done already to close budget gaps. Now, he said, state officials are realizing they may have to fundamentally change what government does.

That could mean getting rid of small schools through consolidation, reducing the prison population though alternative sentencing, selling government assets and more.

Few candidates in the 37 states electing governors offered detailed plans for addressing deficits. Most talked generally about cutting costs and making government more efficient.

At least two, though, proposed tax increases to fill part of the deficit.

Rhode Island independent Lincoln Chafee won his race after calling for a 1 percent sales tax on items currently exempt. He said it could raise $100 million a year toward a $250 million deficit.

And Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois was clinging to a tiny lead Wednesday despite campaigning for a 33 percent income tax increase. The increase would generate about $2.8 billion a year for education as Illinois faces an estimated deficit that could reach $15 billion.

Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Tom Corbett, a Republican, has proposed selling the state-controlled liquor and wine business to private operators to raise $2 billion, although similar proposals in the past have died in the Legislature.

Ohio's incoming governor, Republican John Kasich, named his budget director on Wednesday and said he plans to keep his campaign promises to scrap a high-speed rail project and dismantle the state's expensive new funding system for public schools. Kasich, who will face an estimated deficit of $4 billion to $8 billion, stopped short of threatening unionized state employees' jobs, saying he wants to avoid "declaring an enemy."

Brian Calley, the next lieutenant governor in Michigan, said he and Republican Gov.-elect Rick Snyder will look at every option for closing an estimated $1.4 billion deficit, including public-private partnerships and cutting programs that don't deliver.

"There's no silver bullet," Calley said. "We're just going to have to do the tedious and substantial work of reviewing every area of government, every activity of government for both effectiveness and necessity."